Friday, December 20, 2013

If there is one thing I am not good at,
it's timing. I tend to give anything a few extra minutes – it's
okay if I show up early, or if I have to keep dinner warm before
everyone is ready. For that reason, I never baked popovers before.
They tend to collapse if they are not served immediately. But with
Sourdough Surprises picking them for the December challenge, I had to
try.

I didn't get too creative with this
challenge. I simply made the suggested recipe:

Served with chili, they were wonderful
despite this being my first attempt. Crispy on the outside, soft and
almost custardy on the inside. Made in a muffin tin, it actually
made 8 popovers. So I did save one for breakfast the next day with
my yogurt. There was definitely a difference warm and cold, but the
texture remained.

For that reason, I'm not scared of
popovers anymore. In fact, while I was planning on baking peanut
butter biscuits for Christmas breakfast, the taste and texture got me
thinking...a little sugar, a little nutmeg...warm them up and you
have an eggnog popover for breakfast!

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Somehow, I've developed a talent for
getting free stuff from the internet. This time it wasn't just a
sample – it was a whole jar of Jif Mocha Cappuccino Hazelnut Spread
and a $2 off coupon for another jar. It's especially funny as I had
an unopened jar in the pantry. So, it was time to find a recipe to
use it. Sourdough Surprises picked kolaches – a filled Czech pastry
– as their challenge for November. I needed a filling and I needed
to use the spread. Hopefully it was a match made in heaven.

I did, unfortunately, pick a day to
bake when a front was coming through (meaning extra humidity, the
need for extra flour and not always the best results with yeast
doughs) but I had to give it an old college try. I adapted the
Homesick Texan recipe for sourdough, and used a cream cheese and
mocha hazelnut mixture for the filling. (I also forgot to melt any
butter for when they came out of the oven, so they didn't have a
glossy finish).

Method:
In a large
bowl, combine yeast, warm milk, sugar and one cup of flour. Cover and
let it rise until doubled in size.
Beat together eggs, melted
butter and salt.
Add egg mixture to yeast mixture and blend.
Stir
in about two more cups of flour, 1/2 cup at a time. The dough should
be soft and moist.
Knead dough for about 10 minutes on floured
surface. Don't worry, it’s a joy to knead as the dough is smooth
and highly malleable.
Put dough in a greased bowl and let rise
covered until doubled in size—about an hour.
After dough has
risen, punch it down and pull off egg-sized pieces. In your hands,
roll pieces into balls and then flatten to about three inches in
diameter. Brush with melted butter.
Place flattened pieces on a
greased cookie sheet, cover and let rise again for another
half-hour.
After second rising, with your finger gently make an
indention in the center of the dough (be careful not to flatten it
too much) and fill with one tablespoon of filling.
Bake in oven at
375 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes and enjoy!

Kolache filling

1/2 cup Jif Mocha Hazelnut spread

2 oz Neufachetel cheese, softened

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Beat all three ingredients until fairly
smooth.

The only negative I have to say is that
they tasted a little chewy and dry...but so goes it (typically) when
I bake on a humid day. The pastry was lightly sweet and the filling
just rich enough.

I'll keep these in mind for a less
humid day (if I get the time to bake on a less humid day.) Now to
finish off that jar of Mocha Hazelnut spread...

Sunday, October 20, 2013

I'll admit, it's been tough enough for
me to stay in the kitchen lately with work. It's even tougher to keep
blogging. I found this recipe a long time ago. I'd already tried the
pie crusts a few times from the same site. But knowing someday,
Sourdough Surprises was going to do muffins, I held on to it –
because I haven't been making repeat recipes much either.

Of course, in my style, I didn't do it
as written. I'm a hopeless chocoholic, and when I'm not baking much,
I include it as much as possible. Plus, with a recipe that calls for
exactly half a cup of oil, it was a good recipe to replace the oil
with applesauce (fact: single serve applesauce cups are exactly half
a cup)

Now, the original recipe calls for
30-35 minutes. My oven tends to bake cool, so even though oil free
baked goods don't tend to take as long as those baked with fat, I put
them in for 30 minutes. I thought they did come out slightly
overdone.

Still, they were pretty good. Just
enough chocolate, just enough crunch, and a pretty filling
accompaniment to my breakfast yogurt. So lesson learned (check at 25
minutes), and if I ever get around to repeat recipes, this one is
staying in the cookbook.

Friday, September 20, 2013

Pancakes and waffles. Easy to make the
batter and then...I'm a notoriously bad pancake flipper, and the last
time I went to make waffles, with the batter prepared, the waffle
maker wouldn't heat up. So, neither are things I have great luck
with. Still, I knew there would come a day when Sourdough Surprises picked that for their monthly challenge. It came as no surprise when that was picked for September.

Since the waffle incident, I have replaced the waffle
maker, but having just made them (from a mix), I opted for
pancakes...with my new toy:

I know As Seen on TV products normally
aren't all they're made out to be, but my aunt has one and likes it,
so for $18 (in free gift cards!) I decided it was worth a try.

The pan has a little bit of a learning
curve (you can't watch for bubbles, so you have to know your timing).
A few got a little burnt on one side, and one that I flipped and
opened the pan before it was cooked through got a little mushed.
Still, I was quite happy with the results, and the pancakes were
delicious.

With the right tools, I suppose I can
fix even my biggest kitchen weaknesses. I just got another round of
new toys...so who knows what's next!

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Even though I can't eat much in the way
of bread anymore, with my nutty work schedule, I can certainly
appreciate the simple convenience of a sandwich. So when, two days
before I'm supposed to leave for vacation, I got a call from work
asking me to come in early the next day, I knew what my lunch would
be. And it just so happened that the Shine Supper Club is doing
Sandwiches this month.

So I had a major challenge: Come up
with something I could eat on the way, would hold up in the heat, and
all in a matter of about 6 hours. Oh, and my mother happened to have
just used up all but the last heel of the bread.

I've been somewhat obsessed recently
with a couple of things. One is a blog called Chocolate CoveredKatie, full of healthy dessert ideas. Another is PB2, a powdered
peanut butter that, while not convenient to mix and use as a peanut
butter replacement, is wonderful for mixing into smoothies, yogurt,
pancakes...or sandwich spread.

So I combined two things. I used CCK's
Melted Banana trick, and mixed the caramelized banana with PB2 and
cinnamon with just a little water to thin it out.

The “recipe”:

Spiced Peanut Butter and Melted
Banana Sandwich Spread

Enough for one
sandwich

1/2 large banana

2 tblsp PB2

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Water, enough to thin to desired consistency.

1-2 slices of bread (I don't folding over for a half sandwich, but it
does make for a thick sandwich)

In a covered bowl, microwave banana in 20 second intervals, mashing
with a fork between intervals, until banana is completely mushy.
(About 3 sessions in my microwave).

Mix in PB2 and cinnamon, adding water to achieve desired
consistency.

Spread over bread slice and enjoy!

They say necessity is the mother of invention. While I may go back to
my old standbys, though, this is one to keep in the aresenal. It
held up until I got to work without making an absolute mess, and
still tasted good when I got there.

Sometimes I bring a cold cut sandwich, sometimes peanut butter and
jelly, sometimes it's cream cheese and olive and other times I grab
something from the drive thru on the way. When I'm in the mood for
something different, though, I know what I will turn to.

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

I almost missed this month's SourdoughSurprises challenge. It seems a little crazy that one long weekend in
Western New York can throw off my whole month. I'd been struggling
with inspiration and figured I'd bake when I got back, but before I
knew it...it was the 18th and I still hadn't made my
crackers.

However, one benefit to my trip was
inspiration. Other than the traditional Polish fare that I was
expecting at my family reunion, I had three treats I wanted more than
anything and can't get in Florida: A Tim Horton's S'mores donut
(which they apparently don't have anymore), orange chocolate sponge
candy, and traditional chicken wings.

I finally got my wings at the Anchor
Bar at the Buffalo Airport just before I left, but I was still
wanting more. (Then again, I can always go for good chicken wings).
So what better way to flavor my sourdough crackers than Buffalo-style
hot sauce?

Before I ramble on too much, the
modifications I made to the recipe (summer humidity is making baking
a challenge):

Combine flour, starter, and butter.
Add enough flour to form a stiff ball. Cover and let sit
aside for at least 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes has passed roll dough
out very thin. Cut into rounds with a biscuit cutter and repeat until
all dough is used. Prick with a fork and brush with Buffalo wing
sauce.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven.
Begin checking at 10 minutes (I did not roll mine out thin enough, so
they took 16 minutes to become crispy). Let cool on cookie sheet
before transferring to a storage container.

So a little pressed for time, I didn't
make them perfectly. My original intention was also to top them with
some Ranch and chicken, so I made them a little too big. Mistakes
aside, they tasted pretty good. While I can't say they were a
complete success, they certainly weren't a failure.

Sunday, July 28, 2013

I don't know exactly why I wanted to
save this recipe when I saw it. It was just a peanut butter quick
bread that happened to be filled with jelly. Maybe it was gut
instinct that some other ideas would come together so I could create
a version of my own.

On another note, there was the PeanutButter and Co. peanut butter. I'd heard about them and definitely
knew I would like to try them, but no way was I going to pay that
much...under normal circumstances. Then my mother saw it. I don't
know if she was hungry or what, but she wanted to try it. And if she
thinks its okay to spend money on something, chances are it is –
even better when I can get it buy one, get one free.

In a large bowl, combine flour,
sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in peanut butter with an
electric beater on medium speed, until well combined.

Add egg and milk; stir until well
blended. Spread half the batter into prepared loaf pan and spoon
preserves down center of batter.

Top with remaining batter, covering preserves completely.
Bake 55 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes
out clean. Invert onto a wire rack and let cool completely. Slice
and serve.

I was a little nervous about some residual pineapple juice that
had drained, but it baked off and came out...White Chocolate
Wonderful-ly! Seriously, this was one of the most addictive and
(unfortunately for the calorie counter) high calorie recipes I've
made in a while.

But finally, I'm out of bananas, and I'm out of pineapple. So I
can get back to baking and forgetting to write about it. Now I just
need to get myself more of some Peanut Butter & Co. Peanut
butter...

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Ah, cinnamon rolls. Way back when I
first started baking with sourdough, they were one of my first
successes. So naturally, despite dealing with the July heat and
humidity, I was excited that Sourdough Surprises picked them for this
month's challenge.

I decided to stick with my old recipe
(even though it's so old, the website it's from seems to have been
taken down), but halved it. Then I had to deal with the leftover pineapple from the hummingbird cake. While totally not traditional,
something about a pineapple cinnamon roll sounded really good.
Besides, also having a bag of shredded coconut in the freezer, it
would make a perfect summery tropical treat.

I did have the humidity related issues
with the dough (I ended up using a whole 2 cups of flour)

Mix together first 5 ingredients of the dough in a large bowl. Stir in salt and enough flour to make a soft dough just stiff enough to handle. Turn onto a well-floured board and sprinkle with 1/4 cup flour which has been mixed with soda. Work flour in and knead for 5 minutes or more, adding more flour as necessary.

Place in a buttered bowl and turn once to butter top. Cover and let rise until double, about 3 hours.

Toss topping ingredients and sprinkle over rolls. Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes.

Overfilled, much? But it made them that
much better. Although I can't say I'll be making these often – I
hope I plan better and not buy a 20oz can of pineapple when the
recipe calls for an 8oz again in the near future – they were
definitely worth making. And worth eating.

The only trouble? I've still got 4oz of
crushed pineapple left. But...that's been taken care of. Watch for
my next post!

Sunday, July 14, 2013

I've
already mentioned my stockpile of frozen bananas before. My mother
suggested I make a hummingbird cake, so I already had planned on
making one. Then the Shine Supper Club announced that this month
would be summer desserts. Hummingbird cake is a lightly spiced cake
with bananas and pineapple. What could be more summer than that?

My
mother's recipe is from-scratch, but calls for a ridiculous amount of
oil and sugar. I decided to find a lighter recipe, one that calls
for yellow cake mix. I decided to get a little creative and use
Betty Crocker Butter Pecan. That way I could also omit the nuts.

2.
Place the cake mix, pineapple with it's juice, mashed bananas, water,
oil, eggs, vanilla extract and cinnamon in a large bowl.

3.
Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the
mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Increase
the mixer speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes more, scraping the
sides down again if needed. The batter should look thick and the
fruit well blended.

Being
a traditional southern cake, the original recipe calls for cream
cheese icing. Hummingbird cake is already sweet enough, in my
opinion. So I opted for just a half cup of vanilla icing, thinned
out with 2 tablespoons of milk and microwaved to form a glaze.

It
was as sweet as my mother's recipe, while also not being nearly as
dense. The butter pecan mix provided an excellent – though
addictive – flavor.

Finally,
my freezer is once again devoid of bananas. The thing is, I
accidentally bought a 20oz can of pineapple...

Thursday, June 20, 2013

I had a gut feeling about the the
challenge for this month's Sourdough Surprises. I was thinking
pancakes. Maybe because I haven't done them in a while, and I have
my tried and true recipe. It turned out to be crepes – so I wasn't
too far off. And my first thought was “Oh, crap.” I have a hard
enough time with pancakes. Crepes?

But a challenge is a challenge, and
then I remembered a Crepe Cake I had seen on Delish. I had a plan.

I tweaked the suggested recipe just a
tad for my tastes and my roughly 100% hydration starter:

Whisk all ingredients in a bowl. Add milk until it reaches a very
smooth, thin batter consistency, I normally use about 1/3 cup of milk
but depending on the consistency of your starter, you might use a bit
less or a bit more.
In a not too big, but not too small frying pan (about 8″ – 10″
is perfect) heat the frying pan over medium high heat. Once hot, add
a teaspoon or so of butter, allow it to melt quickly and then
immediately pour in 1/4 cup of crepe batter, tilting the pan with a
circular motion to allow the batter to coat the bottom of the
pan and create a circle of crepe.
Cook the crepe for about two minutes, until the bottom has
splotches of light brown. With a spatula, very carefully loosen
the crepe and flip over. Cook for about 30 seconds and decant onto a
plate.

Allow crepes to cool. Stack on plate,
topping each with about 2 tablespoons of pudding and spreading to
cover

As you can see, I got a little
egregious. For one thing, the ladle I always thought was 1/4 cup is
actually only about 2 1/2 tablespoons, so they turned out too small
and therefore the cake ended up too tall. For two, I was assembling
it while hungry. So hungry I cut into it before I remembered to snap
a picture! So the “Oh Crap” thought that came to mind when I saw
the challenge is now the official name of this cake.

The good news: In my nonstick skillet,
they required very little extra butter. Plus, I actually found them
easier than pancakes. And the cake was especially delicious with the
almond extract.

You never know what you're capable of
until you try. I'm definitely putting this recipe in the keeper file.
And next time, hopefully it turns out even better.

Monday, May 20, 2013

There is one thing I absolutely don't
like about May anymore: All I do is eat. Somehow I managed to have
my birthday right about the same time as Mother's Day – and who
created this “Eat What You Want” day that my friends have to
remind me of, on May 11th, right when I'm trying to behave
myself?

Instead, once the local bakery Red
Velvet Cupcakes were gone from my birthday, I used this month's
Sourdough Surprises challenge to do my Mother's Day baking in one
swoop.

I found a different recipe this month,
as I didn't want a 13”x9” pan of brownies lying around this time
of year. I looked around for how I could jazz it up, and found a
nearly empty box of graham cracker crumbs in the pantry. Reminded of
a few variations of s'mores brownies that I've read about, I decided
to top my brownies with the crumbs. I did realize (right after
coming home from the store) that the recipe called for cake flour, so
I had to make another adjustment.

They didn't need quite the 30-35
minutes in the oven that the recipe called for. My only complaint is
that they turned out a bit more like cake than brownies:

Still, by using unsweetened
chocolate, they had a very rich and satisfying chocolate taste. I do
plan on making more of a graham streusel if I do this again, and
probably omitting the baking soda so that they don't come out so
cakey.

Yes, I will be saving this recipe.
They're pretty darn good. And all things considered, they're not
that bad for you – 1/12 of the recipe is only about 160 calories.

So even though it's May, I can still
have my cake and my brownies too. And then I can go back to my
regularly scheduled baking.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

When I was little, my mother would
always ask what vegetable I wanted with dinner. Like she needed to
ask - “cooked carrots” was always my response. Plain cooked
carrots. Not that I minded glazed carrots (although, to this day,
I'm not fond of raw carrots), but just boiled carrots with a little
bit of salt. It's the simple things in life that keeps kids happy.

I'm all grown up now, and although I do
still live at home, I do most of the cooking now (when I'm not working much, at least). When I found out
the Shine Supper Club was doing childhood dishes for the month of May
(my birthday month even!), I knew I had to do a grown up version of
my favorite side dish growing up.

Simply mix in a small bowl. Makes a
great dip as well as a sauce for all kinds of meat!

Of course, this wasn't how I ate my carrots
growing up – as I've said before, my mom is a lazy cook, and only
after telling her what I'd added to the carrots did she find out
about the lemon pepper seasoning I had in the pantry. Still, it was
a tasty reminder of the way things were back then – and Mom even
loved them too.

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Let's be honest folks: I watch what I
eat carefully. I log everything, even if I'm going crazy overboard
(Yes, I ate 4 donuts yesterday. They tasted good). But I have the
world's biggest sweet tooth. Combine that with the fact that I live
with two people who could care less what they eat, it makes staying
on track tough.

An online friend mentioned a blog
called Chocolate Covered Katie a while back. It's a healthy desert
blog. I don't necessarily even have easy access to some of her
ingredients unless I order online or go to a certain grocery store
that I always end up buying way more than I came in for (and unlike
the blogger, I am not vegan), but they are still lower in sugar and
she provides all kinds of substitution options. My first recipe was
her Sweet Potato Chili, which I would have blogged about – except
my mother and I finished it before I could think to snap pictures
(I've already been told that I have to make it every time my father
is out of town now). Having the house to myself today, I decided to
try one of her wonderful sounding desert recipes – with my own
spin.

While I know the dangers of
experimenting with recipes I've never made before, I have been
craving spiced chocolate lately. So I ended up playing with these
Double Chocolate Brownie Cookies a little more. My version of the
recipe:

1. In a mixing bowl, combine all dry
ingredients and stir very well. In a separate bowl, mix all liquid
ingredients. Now pour wet into dry and mix, kneading by hand until
fully combined.

2. Roll into roughly 3/4” balls and
place on a greased cookie sheet. Refrigerate for at least half an
hour.

3. Bake at 325 for 10 minutes. Let
cool on pan for at least 10 minutes before moving. Store in an
airtight container.

Now, perhaps it was the extra oil and
the sugar, but the nutrition info she gives is a little off from my
recipe calculator. For the 21 cookies it made, they are 87 calories
a piece – on par with most other cookies. Still, I definitely like
the fact it only makes 21 cookies. It makes it much easier to finish
them off and move on to the next recipe.

Being eggless, they are a tad bit
crumbly, and they are a little small (I think I made them slightly
smaller than the original recipe intended). But for two bites, you
get a rich chocolate taste with a hint of cinnamon. It's kind of
hard to not plow through several...or the whole recipe worth.

So...healthy or not, I call these
little cookies a two-thumbs up success.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

When I accidentally came across
Sourdough Surprises looking for recipes, I was intrigued by the
sourdough pasta that started it all. Intrigued enough, in fact, I
found myself actually looking at a pasta maker that happened to be on
the clearance table, and wondering if I'd make sourdough pasta often
enough to justify spending $50 on it.

Of course, for its first anniversary,
the girls of Sourdough Surprises have chosen to make sourdough pasta
again. Of course, I also didn't buy that pasta maker. So my choices
were either sit out this month, or hand roll it. Because I love a
challenge, I decided to hand roll it.

There's not a lot in the way of pasta
recipes – fortunately, the basic recipe doesn't vary much, so I
went ahead and used the suggested recipe – although now that we are
finally getting hot and humid weather, I did have to add another
quarter cup of flour. I also used the dough hooks on my hand mixer,
lacking a stand mixer. I rolled them out and used a pizza roller to
cut into fettucini:

Trying to highlight the pasta, and
having just made spaghetti with marinara last week, I chose another
tried and true (though admittedly, highly processed) sauce:
Philadelphia Creamy Pesto Cooking Cream. Some cubed chicken, a
tomato, and a green pepper...

Yum. And I mean that, and not just my
beloved cooking cream. I was having a hard time not eating multiple
noodles to “test” them – no butter, no sauce, just plain
noodles. They remind me of the noodles in a good bowl of chicken
noodle soup crossed with the dough part of a perogi.

Was it worth the effort? While I
enjoyed it, I'm not sure I can make a regular habit of it. But for a
special occasion (we do have lasagna as our “traditional”
Christmas dinner), I probably will make it again.

Sunday, March 31, 2013

To my mother,
holidays are all day eating events. She doesn't normally eat
breakfast or a proper lunch, but for any holiday, it seems she ends
up buying a tube of cinnamon rolls.

Cinnamon rolls are
okay – but quite frankly, I like my chocolate better. And sure,
they even have prepared chocolate glazed cinnamon rolls now, but I
decided that for this Easter, I would break tradition. I've been
itching to do more with the Jif Mocha Cappuccino Hazelnut spread.
I've already used it in place of Nutella once. I had saved FabioViviani's Nutella Biscuits recipe a while back. It seemed like a
good fit.

Start by combining all the dry ingredients. Cut in butter and
spread. Then add milk.

Mix and place the dough on top of a
floured board and knead few times. Pat to 1-inch thickness and cut
with biscuit cutter. Place them in a oven tray. Bake at 450 for
about 15 minutes.

They were easier to mix than my lastattempt at making biscuits, but the small quanity did make them a
little difficult to cut. Still, how food tastes is just as important
to me as how it looks. I had two for breakfast this morning – one
plain (to judge taste) and one with some caramel sauce.

The mocha flavor is subtle, at best.
They are also not that sweet, if you're looking for more of a
shortcake. Still, they were soft, chewy and otherwise perfect.
Plus, they're not cinnamon rolls.

Have I started a new holiday
tradition? Maybe, maybe not. But right now, I'm more looking forward
to what's next. I have a brand new jar waiting...

One thing that has eluded me was Red
Velvet Cake. Anyone who knows me well knows I can always make an
exception to my attempt-to-eat-healthier habits for a taste of rich
red chocolatey goodness with cream cheese frosting. It's been my
birthday cake for as long as I can remember. It's made with
buttermilk, so I figured I could make a sourdough version. My only
attempt at it was using my grandmother's Red Waldorf Cake recipe, in
my early days of sourdough baking. But while it tasted good, the
texture wasn't red velvet, and with recipes catching my eye left and
right, another attempt was on the back burner. Then SourdoughSurprises came out with the cake challenge for March – and I knew
it was time.

Back when I made my first attempt, I
looked up all the possible solutions for the coarser crumb problem.
I came up with using cake flour instead, or baking it at a lower
temperature for a longer time. Then I found this recipe, which in
the accompanying post mentions the use of acid creating a too-coarse
crumb. My grandmother's recipe used vinegar, so I decided for my
next attempt I would use this recipe, as it was (only swapping out
the buttermilk for the sourdough starter).

Preheat oven to 350. Spray 2 9”
cake pans with baking spray and set aside. Sift flour with the
cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and set aside.

Cream butter, brown sugar, food
coloring and vanilla together. Beat until well aerated and pale.
Alternately add dry ingredients and sourdough starter, beginning and
ending with the dry ingredients, mixing until combined after each
addition.

Scoop into prepared cake pans and
spread as evenly as possible. Bake for 40 minutes or until a cake
tester comes out clean. Frost with cream cheese frosting.

The first thing I noticed was just how
high these babies rose:

I keep meaning to get into cake
decorating – it's a natural progression for a cake baker – but
slightly pressed for time, I opted for packaged cream cheese frosting
and the more traditional crumb decoration. I didn't have quite
enough frosting to finish the sides and at least swipe my decorator
come. Plus, they baked up so high that I had way, way too many
crumbs after trimming to use them as a cake to top them with. (I
ended up making a kind of “cake pop pudding” with them, mixing
them with vanilla yogurt. It was quite yummy that way).

As soon as I cut into the cake, I
didn't even have to taste it. I knew I had it. It was slightly
overbaked, but the texture was fine and velvety. And it still had
that familiar red velvet flavor.

It eluded me for a long time. Now I
not only have my red velvet cake, but a homemade sourdough version.
It's probably my proudest baking success yet.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Working for a sports team means I
usually work at night, when I don't get as many opportunities to cook
for my family. When I do, I stick to old standbys like Baked Chicken. For dinner, I'm either scrounging leftovers, preparing some
overly processed food from the freezer, or making something simple.

But simple doesn't always mean not
creative. Someone recently posted her recipe for Nut Butter pancakes
in a healthy living chat room. It couldn't have been more simple –
a tablespoon of any nut or seed butter, one egg, and an eighth of a
teaspoon of baking powder. A simple, egg-based pancake. It was the
perfect meal for me – easy enough that I could whip it up when I
get home at 11:30pm or after a workout when I'm exhausted and need
food fast. Of course, being me, I played with the recipe. I got
lazy and started cooking it in the microwave, like I might scramble
my eggs. And with the Shine Supper Club doing egg dishes this month,
I saw a perfect opportunity to share my even-easier – and in my
opinion, tastier – version.

Microwave Peanut Butter Egg Pancake

(My apologies, as I forget which of my
friends posted the recipe its adapted from!)

For each pancake, you will need:

1 large egg

1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter

1/8 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon honey

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Cooking spray

Topping of choice (in this case,
spreadable honey, but maple syrup, bananas, yogurt, and applesauce
would all also be tasty ideas).

In a small bowl, whip egg with honey,
baking powder and cinnamon until well combined. Add peanut butter
and mix well.

Spray a dinner-sized plate with cooking
spray. Pour batter onto plate. Microwave for about 1 minute, until
it appears just moist.

[Blogger's note: I do apologize for
my photography. The reason I don't do too many step by step photos
is that you are typically seeing pictures minutes after the food is
made and often minutes before I am about to devour it. This is
especially true with lunch meals, like this or my Mocha Oatmeal. I
love to cook and eat and it's tough when things get between the two!]

Of course, this can be done in a
skillet (the original was). You can sub any nut or seed butter you
wish. Or whatever sweetener you wish. That's why I love recipes
like this: They're easy to tweak and make your own, or so you don't
get bored with the “same ole, same ole.”

It's also perfect for many other
occasions. Family doesn't all get up at once? It only takes a few
minutes to whip up a single serving as they come down for breakfast.
Since it's only one serving, it's also good for single cooks like me.
Or perhaps for modifying it for an individual family member's
tastes. It's quick, it's high-protein, reasonably healthy, and
delicious.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

It's hard for my family to resist a
Mexican dinner. It wasn't uncommon when I was younger for my family
to eat at Mexican restaurants two or three days a week. So, when
Sourdough Surprises picked flatbreads for the month of February,
there was no doubt in my mind that I had to make tortillas.

Of course, this ended up being a
many-days process. First and foremost, I had to finally take the
time to re-season my grandmother's cast iron pan (sadly, I know its
benefits – but it sat in the back of the cupboard for I don't know
how long). Then the two day process of making tortillas, and
finally, a Mexican dinner for my family.

Well, this one wasn't an easy one. For
starters, I could barely get the whole 3 cups of flour mixed into the
dough when I made it. A day later, and the dough was so wet I could
hardly handle it. Perhaps because I used regular all-purpose flour
(unfortunately, I'm the only one who watches what I eat in my house,
and at least one of my taste testers dislikes whole wheat products).
I managed, though. It made nearly twice what the recipe indicated,
so that was another plus. And then I had to wait until I had another
day off to make dinner and try them! It was tough – I was looking
forward to a homemade Mexican meal.

The recipe:

Sourdough Tortillas
Adapted very slightly from Grain Mill Wagon
- 3 cups flour
-
3/4 cup water
- 3/4 cup sourdough starter
- 1/4 cup olive oil
-
Pinch salt
Step One: Combine the water, flour, salt, and sourdough
starter in your mixer or food processor. Keep adding flour,
slowly, until the dough forms a nice ball without sticking too much
to the sides of the mixer. Once you get the dough to a soft
ball form, allow the mixer to knead the dough for 2-3 minutes (if you
don’t have a mixer, just do this by hand!) Transfer the dough
to a well-oiled bowl, cover, and let this hang out on your counter
for 12-24 hours.
Step Two: When you’re ready to cook up your tortillas,
heat up a griddle, cast iron skillet, or cooking pan of choice to
medium-high heat. I don’t bother with greasing or spraying my
griddle. I like to use my large griddle so that I can have
multiple tortillas going at the same time – it helps to speed up
the process.
Step Two: Remove the dough from the bowl and transfer onto a
greased surface. Gently divide the dough into walnut sized
balls (this recipe will yield a dozen or so, depending on size).
Step Four: Grease your hands with a little olive oil and
working with one ball of dough at a time, use your fingers to smoosh
the dough out into a tortilla. I suppose you could use a
greased rolling pin, but I find that using my fingers alone works
fine. Sure, the shape isn’t a perfect circle – but that’s
okay! It’s homemade, remember?
Step Five: After rolling out the tortilla, gently and
carefully move it to the hot skillet. Cook it for about 30
seconds per side, until a little golden and bubbly.

Step Six: You can either eat
these immediately, or cool them off and store them in the fridge or
freezer for later use. I have found that they reheat very
easily and even stay soft. Yay!

So then comes dinner:

A little chicken breast, a lot of
seasoning, some cheese and salsa...they ended up being tough for
tacos – just a tad too small, but they were certainly delicious.

(I did also have a peanut butter and
jelly sandwich on one, but at 11:30 at night...I forgot to snap a
picture.)

I can't say I'm going to make homemade
tortillas again anytime soon – my family still eats at Mexican
restaurants enough that it doesn't make sense to make a Mexican
dinner at home. But I'm glad I did.

Saturday, February 16, 2013

When I first saw that the Shine SupperClub was doing “Sexy Dishes” for February, I was at a loss. I'm
a single girl, just cooking for family and friends. Romantic dinners
for two hasn't been in my repertoire.

Then, after a hard workout, I was
exhausted and looking for some carbohydrates. I turned to one of my
quick and easy favorites: oatmeal. When I'm as tired as I was, I
sometimes just make an instant oatmeal packet with hot brewed coffee.
When it's plain, one of my favorite sweeteners is a packet of hot
cocoa mix. At this point, I was so tired I wanted someone to just
bring it to me.

And then it hit me: it's the perfect
breakfast-in-bed food. And what's sexier than breakfast-in-bed and
chocolate?

Of course, instant oatmeal and hot
cocoa are easy enough to throw together. So for my next post-workout
oatmeal dish, I set out to make a more from-scratch version.

So, a little coffee, a little sugar, a
lot of cocoa powder (I like it dark!) and a coffee creamer and
voilia!

Breakfast-in-Bed Mocha Oatmeal

Serves 1...but easily doubled

1/2 cup quick cooking oats

2/3 cup cold coffee (oatmeal will be on
the thick side, use more or less to taste)

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tablespoon sugar (use more or less to
taste)

1 half-and-half coffee creamer, or
flavor of choice

Splash of vanilla extract

Mix oats, cocoa, and sugar in a bowl,
stir to prevent clumping when wet ingredients are added. Add coffee
and vanilla, stir.

Microwave 1 1/2 minutes, or amount of
time specified on oatmeal container.

Add coffee creamer, stir until well
mixed.

I think this on a tray, maybe with a
side of strawberries, would make anybody's sexy meal list. It's also
a perfect breakfast food – get your caffeine fix in your morning
oatmeal!

I'm not making any promises if you
serve this to your sweetie. But I think it ups your chances. Now if
someone would just make it for me...

Friday, February 8, 2013

In case you haven't heard, the NHL
lockout is officially and utterly over – and that means this
wannabe baker has regular work again. It also means that I don't
have nearly as much time in the kitchen, much less time to blog about
it.

Diet soda cake is nothing new to me. I
was introduced in the early 2000's when I was on Weight Watchers for
my sister's wedding. A box of cake mix and a can of diet soda is all
it takes. It comes out super moist, although it falls apart easily.

Generally, people use lemon-lime soda
for yellow cakes and diet cola (or the variations) for chocolate
cakes. A while back, I got the idea to try and recreate the flavor
of one of my favorite from-up-north treats: Orange Chocolate. Why
not use orange soda and chocolate cake?

Unfortunately, whenever I bought orange
soda, it kept disappearing. So I took a permanent marker, wrote
“NEEDED FOR BAKING” on it and then...procrastinated. Until now.
With a couple of days off, into the kitchen I went.

Like I said, without any eggs or oil in
the cake, it does fall apart easily. Therefore, I prefer them made
as cupcakes with paper liners – even though I despise cupcake
wrappers almost as much as I despise trying to make sure my
cupcakes/muffins are of equal size. The recipe also only makes about
three quarters of what the box says. I wound up with 19 cupcakes.

The benefit of the crumbly, moist
texture is that you can go with a much lighter frosting. With a
package of whipped topping in the pantry, I opted to use that and
added a packet of hot chocolate mix to it.

Need an official recipe?

Diet Orange Soda Chocolate Cupcakes

Makes about 1 1/2 dozen

Cake:

1 box Chocolate Fudge Cake mix

1 can (12oz or 1 1/2 cup) diet orange
soda

Frosting:

1 packet whipped topping mix

Milk and vanilla as called for on box

1 packet of hot cocoa mix

Mix cake mix and soda in a large mixing
bowl. Scoop batter into paper-lined muffin tin, filling about 2/3
full

Bake as according to instructions on
box. Cupcakes will be done on the lower end of the time range given.
Cool on a wire rack.

Prepare whipped topping as directed.
Mix in hot cocoa mix until well combined.

Spread topping on completely cooled
cupcakes and enjoy!

As far as chocolate cupcakes are
concerned, these were good. However, while there was definitely
something different about them, you couldn't really taste the orange
flavor. Perhaps if I'd used a regular chocolate cake mix, the orange
might have shone through a little more.

Best yet, each iced cupcake works out
to a whole 130 calories. Sure, health nuts will probably go off on
me about the trans fats in the whipped topping and the artificial
sweeteners in the soda, but I firmly believe that eventually they'll
discover that everything has something bad for you in it. I say
enjoy, like everything else, in moderation.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

If there is one thing I can appreciate
Sourdough Surprises for more than getting me to try new things, it's
all the things I end up learning.

This month's challenge was “a sweet,
swirly, enriched bread with roots in Eastern Europe” known as
babka. As I clicked through all of the suggested links, I came
across this one. And my first thought was that it sounded like my
great aunt's paska.

No, Jessica, that would be more like
exactly like your great aunt's paska. It's just another name.
(“Babka” is actually Polish for “grandmother,” whereas
“paska” is the Ukranian spelling of pascha, meaning
Easter - when it is traditionally served.)

My great aunt sends home paska much
more often than she sends home pizzelles. Doing my research, I'm not
sure how traditionally Polish hers is or not. It's a
kind-of-sweetened bread with raisins mixed in, until you get to the
streusel topping. I'm not totally fond of it, save for the streusel.
But it's a challenge, and I had an additional challenge this month:
Make my family proud.

The regional and cultural variations on
babka/paska seem to vary from the brioche rolled out and filled with
a filling, as Sourdough Surprises suggests, to a coffee cake that is
traditionally made in a bundt-style pan flavored with raisins and
orange peel. (So my great aunt's is more of a cross between the two.)
After some searching, I found King Arthur Flour's recipe, which
seemed pretty similar to Aunt Polly's. I played with it some to make
it as close to the familiar recipe as possible.

My gut said that this might not work,
owing to the small amount of liquid and the relatively large amount
of yeast. My first attempt didn't rise, so I added a half teaspoon
of baking soda.

And what do you know, it worked! It's
cakier in texture than Aunt Polly's, and I used a different streusel.
Otherwise, it's pretty spot on.

Add all other ingredients except
for raisins. Mix until combined. Dough will be very wet.

Gently fold in raisins. Cover and
allow to rest for 1 hour.

Spread dough in a loaf pan sprayed
with baker's spray. Cover and allow to rest 1/2 hour, while oven is
preheating to 350 degrees.

Prepare the streusel. Melt butter
in microwave. Mix in other ingredients until the mixture resembles
coarse crumbs. Spread over dough.

Bake for 35-40 minutes. Allow to
cool before cutting.

Like I said, I've never been all that
fond of paska/babka. But something about having made such an
accurate analog to the family recipe was exciting. It happily became
my breakfast:

Ciotka Polly (“Ciotka” is Polish
for “aunt”) is well into her 80s now. I know that we won't be
bringing home her paska for too much longer. Now, I have a sense of
pride knowing that I've remade a family recipe, that I can now hand
down.